VietNamNet Bridge – Individuals and organizations are encouraged to provide the Office of Anticorruption and Integrity (OAI) of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) with information about corruption at projects financed by the bank.

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There have been more reports on corruption and fraud at ADB-funded projects, heard a seminar on anticorruption in HCMC last week. Between 1998 and January 2016, the bank received 3,086 reports on integrity violations in countries using ADB loans and investigations were conducted on 1,497 of the total. Cases relating to corruption accounted for 30% while fraud made up 37%.

Practices violating the ADB’s anticorruption policy are corruption, fraud, coercion, collusion, abuse, conflict of interest and obstruction.

According to the ADB, reports with clear evidence will be examined by the OAI. The office is committed to protecting information providers and witnesses.

Cholpon Mambetova, integrity specialist at the ADB, said the bank will not tolerate any individuals and organizations committing integrity violations during the implementation of projects financed by the bank.

The ADB will not only impose sanctions but also name violators whether they are management units, executing units, contractors, consultants, suppliers, ADB staff or anyone involved in ADB-supported activities.

The ADB highly appreciates the role of civil society in fighting corruption. Civil society should be allowed to participate more in designing, implementing and monitoring projects.

Mambetova said the ADB does not have enough resources to conduct adequate on-site monitoring activities and people in remote areas lack information to identify corrupt practices or have limited contact with the ADB. Therefore, the increasing involvement of civil society is essential.

In addition, the ADB as well as governments receiving the bank’s loans need to consult such organizations to have overall views of the needs of project beneficiaries, Mambetova said.

However, representatives of many non-profit organizations said that it is not easy to access information about ADB-funded projects in Vietnam, especially beneficiaries and civil society.

Currently, the ADB does not require the governments to consult and coordinate with civil society when executing the projects financed by the bank but just encourages this.

Vietnam is a major aid recipient among the developing countries picked by the ADB for providing nearly US$15 billion in 1970-2015, 34% of it going to transport infrastructure and information technology projects and 18% to energy.

From 1998 to January 2016, a dozen companies and 11 individuals in Vietnam were found to violate integrity, mostly fraudulent, corrupt and collusive practices, according to the ADB.

According to Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index, Vietnam scored 31 out of 100 points and ranked 112th out of 168 countries and territories last year. The nation was listed in a group of countries with high corruption.

Individuals and organizations are encouraged to send reports and evidence of corruption and fraud at ADB-funded projects to integrity@adb.org and anticorruption@adb.org, or call +63 26315004.

SGT